Sairiel
Personality Long Night Era Sairiel is very patient, and kind, but somewhat haughty- she believes, as a gods created entity who is the last of her flight, she is destined to lead any and all mortal attempts against the Winter King. Although she means well with this, her lack of experience leads to her making poorly-thought out decisions. She is ready to charge at a moment's notice, and this leads to some convincing when a situation does not require rushing-in headfirst. Nevertheless, she is an inspiring leader when she is in command, capable of strengthening the resolve of her soldiers. She is obssessed with being the one to finally stop the Winter King. Dawn Era As of the Dawn Era, living with the Winter King's soul locked in her mind for almost two millenia has taken it's toll on her sanity. Sairiel has long since forgotten what the touch of the gods was like on her soul, having been unable to reach them due to the link, and has, in her fits of sanity, given up on her belief in them as divine protectors. Forsaken by the gods she served because of the evil co-habiting her body, she has become a lot less focussed and confident, and has started to commune with animals, becoming more in tune with nature than she was before in her ever-pious state. Known History Long Night Era Sairiel and her flight were born from the gods with the purpose of descending to the Mortal planes and slaying the Winter King. However, this plan did not go as anticipated; the Winter King, already more powerful than the hosts of the gods due to his Old One patron, laid waste to the angels, leaving all but Sairiel dead. Luck saved Sairiel, and she was found, wounded but alive, by a family who were travelling to the coast to flee the Winter King. They protected her and healed her, realizing from her wings what she was, and she repaid them by protecting them and guiding them to safety. It would be a long time before Sairiel would challenge the Winter King again, as much as she tried. She became a lone warrior, slaying hordes of the invading Orcs, becoming a minor legend. She was eventually approached by the Dawn Wardens, who convinced her to join their renewed efforts to slay the Winter King. She would stand with them in the final battle, her efforts dealing heavy blows to the King himself. Dawn Era The only survivor of the original Dawn Wardens, Sairiel began to sense something was off the second she walked away from that battlefield. It didn't take long for the voice in her head to start whispering. It spoke of power and revenge, and brutality- it encouraged her to take bloody vengeance on the useless people who hadn't been able to save her friends from death. She knew what had happened as surely as she knew she could no longer hear the gods- a fragment of the Winter King's soul had stabbed into her heart during the explosion, and had made residence in her soul. Sensing this evil within her, the gods cut her off from her celestial powers. Sairiel left in the night, afraid of what would happen to those she would celebrate alongside. Needing to hide who she was, she ditched her armor on the battlefield, choosing to wear peasant clothes stolen from an overturned caravan, and disappeared into the mists of time. She was now a Fallen Angel, forsaken and doomed to wander the Mortal Plane until she died and was reincarnated among the beings of it. But death would not claim her. The Winter King's life-preserving magic kept her now-supposedly-mortal body going, even though she was determined to try and end her life. The fragment of soul left in her mind that slowly drove her crazy also stopped her from aging or dying as a mortal should. She divorced herself from society, fearing what the King would do should he gain control of her body, and spent a very long time far from civilization, becoming feral. At night, the King would attempt to take over, and she would lash at her own body to try and keep her mind in place. Many centuries later, she would be found by an order of Paladins. Able to sense the great dark power that dwelled within her soul, they attempted to execute her- only to fail. She was could not die by their methods. Finally, they took her to a cell where they locked her up, hoping to keep her under control, unaware of who her dark passenger really was, and of her true identity. She dwelled in that cell, lashing at herself to remain in control, and talking to the small animals that occasionally came in through the window for centuries, barely eating but somehow still surviving. She knew that living in such conditions was as punishing a humiliation fot eh Winter King who dwelled inside her as it was for herself, and so in her lucid moments held on firm to the knowledge that all the punishments she endured in this time he was also enduring.